Lionsgate’s Making a Hunger Games and Twilight Theme Park

Devoted ScreenCrush readers may remember an item we remarked upon two years ago, that movie studio Lionsgate had set plans to construct and operate theme parks based on their properties in the United States and China. So far, that hasn’t really panned out. The parks were supposed to be finished by 2019, but the Avatron Smart Park to be built Georgia lost steam and ceased construction last December. (And yeesh, that name — can you imagine a kid squealing about how excited they are to go to the “Avatron Smart Park?” That sounds like a corporate complex where Elon Musk wannabes go to hawk their startup ideas.)

Perhaps a news item today may ring a bell, then. The Hollywood Reporter notes that Lionsgate is back at it, setting plans to build a park oriented around their Twilightand Hunger Gamesproperties in Korea, where those franchises presumably still hold some cultural cachet. Their Now You See Meand Robin Hood: Originsfilms will also provide the basis for outdoor attractions at what has been dubbed Lionsgate Movie World, which will take up 1.3 million square feet in the Jeju Shinhwa World Park. (As an ignorant Westerner, I assumed the park would be located near an urban center, but not so — it’s on the island of Jeju off the southern coast of the Korean peninsula, which kind of rules.) The park will offer the whole nine yards beyond its rides and attractions, including shops, eateries, and live performances on the ground.

As ScreenCrush’s now-Editor Matt Singer noted when this idea was first floated years ago, the Lionsgate films don’t really promise family fun. Would you like to deny your teenage libidinous urges while your sparkly boyfriend tries to stop himself from murdering you? Or would you rather slip into a bombed-out dystopia where lethal combat is the only way to escape poverty? There’s a little something for everyone!